Why did Shelley Duvall's career go straight down the shitter?

She wasn't exactly a classic beauty.

Hello, I’m Shelley Duvall.

I loved her and wish she got more roles. Stanley Kubrick was an ass for the way he treated her on the set of The Shining.

she's one reason I never cared for The Shining. I never understood why they made Shelley Duvall as Jack Nicholson's wife

She was perfect as Olive Oyl

Her most iconic role was The Shining, and many other actresses could've performed the role just as well, and some better. She just wasn't all that.

She was hideously ugly.

She was really good in 3 Women.

1. She wasn't attractive and wasn't talented enough to make up for it 2. She is obviously profoundly mentally ill. I'm not sure when that began, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were signs of it back when she was still acting.

What r8 said.

I thought she was excellent in The Shining. It's hard to imagine any other actress in the role. Maybe Talia Shire?

It's a shame she ended up destitute and mentally ill.

“Dr” Phil didn’t help her.

She had a face that could survive in Hollywood cinema only in the 1970s.

I miss seeing her act.

You better stop it Connie Chung!

She’s fug and crazy.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

She was outstanding in 3 Women.

Doe eyed?

You've seen a mentally ill deer whose eyes resembled Duvall's?

Poor Shell is not looking too good these days.

I had no idea this happened.

R22 That happened in 2016.

Dr. Phil is an evil hack for exploiting his guests that way. Not just Shelley.

R3: Kubrick basically terrorized Duvall to get the performance he wanted, wearing her down with take after take. Duvall has said that she started losing hair because of the stress. It was a long, brutal shoot.

A clip of the infamous interview with Dr. Phil.

She earned a Razzie nomination for her performance in the Shining.

There was talk about her being/acting crazy on various places on the internet not long after she moved to Texas after retiring from acting. People recounting seeing her acting bizarre in public, talking to herself, people not there and so on. Eventually the Tabloids picked it up and published various stories along with very unflattering pics of her. This was years before the sad Dr. Phil apperence.

At one point, after moving to Texas and before completely losing it, she tried starting up a Green Living business and tried shopping around a show of her giving Green Living tips. There's a short trailer type clip of it on youtube.

Stanley Kubrick hated women.

Name a Stanley Kubrick heroine. ...you can’t.

He made mens movies

Maybe if some of you knew something about her besides The Shining, you'd have a different opinion.

She's pretty amazing in all those early Altman movies - Thieves Like Us, Nashville, etc.

(Plus, R28 is right about Kubrick. The only memorable woman in all his movies is Shelley Winters in Lolita.)

She has always been butt ugly with jacked up teeth and bug-eyes.

She had odd looks and a quirkiness that didn't lend itself well to leading lady roles. She was always what could be called a character actress. There weren't a lot of roles out there that would have suited her. My favorite performance of hers was as the dipsy Rolling Stone reporter in "Annie Hall." She was perfect in that.

I think her unusual looks made her more compelling than just some other pretty, bland face.

Agreed r32.

she wasn't bland in the least bit. in fact, I would argue that she had a fascinating allure to her.

also, she proved she could do breezy mainstream comedy when she appeared in the movie Roxanne. Duvall made for a great earthy side kick to Steve Martin. She could've had a much longer career in tv and mainstream movies.

but as we all know now--she's REALLY mentally ill. and I suspect has been so for quite some time.

She was apparently propositioned to be in a porno when she was 17. Geez, what is up with 70's and its obsession with featuring the ugliest people ever in porn? Linda Lovelace was also a dog.

But I also agree with the other poster who said she had an allure about her. Unlike the countless other interchangeable Barbie dolls in Hollywood, Shelley was memorable.

R35 I highly doubt that story. Very few people were making full on, hardcore porn in 1966, when she was 17. All the "professionals" were doing softcore simulated stuff. It wasn't until the very early 70s when full on hardcore porn really began to be shot. Unless she was offered a loop. And porn makers were certainly not scouting for people in Texas.

R36 you're right, when I looked up her age and realize she would be 17 in 1966, that story didn't make a lot of sense to me. I tried to find other sources that mention the propositioning story and so far, that Interview magazine issue is all that comes up.

She's a very skinny lady in the water…